For over 90 years, Time Magazine has selected a person, or a group of people, to be the Time Person of the Year. It’s a tradition as old as time (sorry), and one that is eagerly anticipated at the end of each calendar year. This year, names that have dominated the news cycle are the favorites to be given the prestigious honor with Donald Trump, Colin Kaepernick, and Kim Jong Un leading the way. Time has given us plenty of surprises in the past though, so even though those three are the betting favorites to win Person of the Year, there’s a very good possibility someone else is selected by the magazine staff.
2018 Time Person of the Year (Courtesy of BetDSI)
Donald Trump 3/1
Colin Kaepernick 5/1
Kim Jong Un 5/1
Thai Cave Divers 6/1
Xi Jinping 8/1
Elon Musk 10/1
Robert Mueller 10/1
Moon Jae-In 12/1
Pope Francis 12/1
Vladmir Putin 12/1
Mohammed bin Salman 15/1
Christine Blasey Ford 20/1
Brett Kavanaugh 20/1
Emma Gonzalez 20/1
Kamala Harris 20/1
Justin Trudeau 30/1
Stacey Abrams 30/1
Planet Earth 30/1
Angela Merkel 30/1
BTS 30/1
Jeff Bezos 40/1
LeBron James 40/1
Lady Gaga 40/1
Michelle Obama 50/1
Meghan Markle 50/1
Beyonce 50/1
Serena Williams 75/1
Taylor Swift 75/1
Ariana Grande 100/1
Stormy Daniels 100/1
The second year of Trump’s presidency has been a tour de force. The 2016 Time Person of the Year was a finalist to win the award again last year, and he has somehow been in the spotlight even more this year. He is incredibly divisive but wildly popular with his base, and he took a much more active role in midterm elections than presidents usually do.
Of course, it’s never just one thing with Trump. He is in the news so often, that it would take hours to list all the occasions in which something he said, did, or tweeted made national headlines. Nine US presidents have been named Time Person of the Year multiple times in their tenure, so it seems likely that he will make a second appearance on the list at some point.
Colin Kaepernick has become more than a football player. His name and image now represent something more than just himself, and he is at the vanguard of a renewed civil rights movement. Kaepernick last played in the NFL two years ago, but his decision to kneel during the national anthem throughout the 2016 campaign has reverberated through the national landscape. After honoring the Silence Breakers last year, Time Magazine may decide to select the figurehead of the Black Lives Matter movement this year.
There’s a chance Time Magazine looks outside the United States to select their Person of the Year too. Kim Jong Un was in the headlines often during the first half of the year, as he and President Trump engaged in a war of words before meeting at a historic summit in Singapore in June. Nothing much came of the summit, but the North Korean continues to sporadically send out threats and reminders that he controls a stockpile of nuclear weapons. Selecting Kim Jong Un could lead to criticism, but this is the same magazine that chose Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Ayatollah Khomeini as the Person of the Year.
Looking further down the list, there are some others with intriguing odds. Robert Mueller could be a worthwhile bet at 10-1 as he continues to investigate President Trump and bring charges against people associated with the president. Brett Kavanaugh at 20-1 could pay off as well, since his nomination to the Supreme Court and the subsequent Senate hearings led to the judge becoming a household name and almost as divisive a figure as Trump.
